ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the European digital advertising space, and in this week’s edition: Publicis tops its shopping spree; AppNexus at vanguard of click fraud fight; Europeans eye US success at ATS New York; Irish firms step-up growth ambitions. 

Publicis Groupe's Ongoing Acquisition Spree Raises Questions

Publicis Groupe continued its 2014 expansion strategy this week with the announcement of its $3.7bn takeover with digital agency Sapient in a move that builds on its recent investments in a host of ad tech firms, but one that some investors are calling into question.

The move will see the formation of Publicis.Sapient, aligning the newly-created entity with existing Publicis digital agencies including DigitasLBi, and Vivaki, among others, plus it also comes hot on the heels of the holding group's other high-profile strategic investments, namely the purchase of mobile specialist DMP RUN, as well as its $40m investment in Israeli ad network Matomy.

The holding group claims the deal means both companies will now have combined revenue in excess of €8bn, combined EBITDA of approximately €1.3bn, and over 75,000 employees worldwide in a note to investors.

This also includes a further breakdown of the strategic rationale for the multi-billion dollar deal including a “globally distributed delivery model”, enabled by Sapient’s “unmatched technology capability” and portfolio of enterprise technology.

Maurice Levy, Publicis Groupe, CEO, claimed the deal will accelerate its ambition of generating 50% of its revenues from digital earnings ahead by three years, meaning that goal will be realised in 2015, but Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research Group, called the move into question.

In an investor's note he advised investors to maintain their previous valuation of the France-based holding group, further adding the investment added little value to its bottom line given the pre-existing capabilities it already possessed in the guise of outfits such as Digitas LBi, Starcom MediaVest, and Razorfish.

More damningly, he added: “While Publicis has the capacity for such a transaction this deal would make it harder for Publicis to pursue something that might actually be “transformative” in the future.”

The move also prompted Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of arch-rival WPP, to quip that the purchase was equal to the behaviour of a jilted lover, a particularly pertinent remark given his holding group's much lauded strategic investment in AppNexus.

AppNexus promises 'fraud free' traffic

AppNexus this week announced a tie-up with a host of third parties, including WPP’s Xaxis, DoubleVerify, Integral AdScience, to agree a common currency on what constitutes click-fraud, just weeks after it was embroiled in controversy concerning the matter.

The announcements were made at the AppNexus Summit in New York, where CEO Brian O’Kelley told attendees the tie-up was part of its initiative to lead a pan-industry charge to combat "invalid traffic" that devalues the efforts of all legitimate players in ad tech.

he move will see AppNexus cut-off all sources of traffic identified as invalid by the pairing on its exchange, plus not to charge advertisers for traffic that both firms deem to be invalid.

Furthermore, AppNexus also announced that Microsoft, PubMatic and Xaxis will also back the initiative.

O'Kelley: "“I think it’s time for us to agree on a common currency for fraud and invalid traffic… It doesn’t have to be perfect, we just have to agree.

Inventory that is found to be correctly represented and verifiable, with no non-human traffic, will be denoted with the “Certified Supply” label.

The certified supply programme is currently live, although all parties are tweaking the operation, with the ‘no fraud’ guarantee not launching until the first quarter of 2015.

ATS' US debut sees European firms lay out US designs

ExchangeWire made its US debut this week with ATS New York consisting of industry-leading figures from firms including Facebook, which outlaid its vision for Facebook Atlas, plus AppNexus, and IPONWEB, but notably a panel session included UK ad tech firms outline how they can further stimulate competition on the other side of the Atlantic.

With the industry's largest US players (notably AppNexus, Facebook and Google) engaged in discussion in the self-labelled "ad tech power game", European ad tech firms Affectv, and Media IQ took the ATS New York stage to talk their prospects of finding a USP here by applying strategies they learnt elsewhere.

Glen Calvert, Affectv, CEO, explained to attendees how his firm (which intends to launch in the US in 2015) believes European ad tech firms can offer enhanced value to US advertisers as his firm has learnt to operate on leaner budget across the more fragmented European market.

Meanwhile, fellow panelist Gurman Hundal, Media IQ, CEO, shared insights he gleaned having based himself in the US 15 months ago, advising European companies looking to make a similar move to be patient when first arriving on US shores.

"Thing can take a long time here," he said. "You have to be patient, especially when learning just how things can be done differently here."

Is ad tech reviving the Celtic Tiger?

Ireland occupies an important role in the European digital media industry, more notably for the convenient taxation terms it offers some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, but several moves this week showed how companies there are trying to alter this perception.

The same week as Web Summit took place in Dublin, Ireland-based VideoElephant (a video ad network) announced it has secured an additional $1m in funding after setting up in 2012, with ACT Venture Capital, and Enterprise Ireland participating in the round, with the firm intending to use the finds to further its expansion into the US.

VideoElephant sources, aggregates and sells video content to web publishers who are looking to generate advertising revenue from online content. VideoElephant works with media owners including: AFP, National Geographic, ABC, VideoJug and Press Association.

Stephen O’Shaughnessy, VideoElephant, CEO, said: “Our recent content and adtech partnerships wins, coupled with this latest round of investment supports our development in Dublin, and expansion into New York and Los Angeles, centres for innovation in our industry. Establishing our presence there will generate new content partnerships and extend our capability to provide end-to-end content solutions.”   

Separately, fellow Ireland-based firm Sophia this week also announced a funding round with Angel CoFund ploughing £1m into the ad tech firm, which aims to solve issues around "banner blindnesss" via its Ambiance platform.

Sophia was spun out of the University of Ulster and the St. Petersburg State University in Russia,and has now received £5.75m in funding, with previous rounds stemming from Halo, an angel investor network based in the North of the Island.

Separately, US-based AdRoll (which uses Ireland as its European headquarters) this week announced its employee count there has hit three figures, just 12 months after opening an office there.

AdRoll, which closed a funding round of $70m in April 2014, has also today announced the hire of Patrick Mee as VP of engineering across the company to help build the engineering team, platform and data infrastructure. Mee, a Dublin native, will also help build up AdRoll's engineering team in his native country.